Page 24 of She's Mine

After eating, I removed my shoes and socks, and paddled in the brook, allowing the cold water to cool me. David joined me, and we started splashing each other playfully.

I screamed as something brushed against my foot, causing me to lose my balance, and fall fully into the water.

“Ugh, I’m soaked!” I complained, pushing my wet hair out of my eyes, as I climbed out of the brook.

“You’ll soon dry off in this heat,” David said, wading to the riverbank.

“No way am I trekking back to the house in wet clothes. I’ll just let them dry off a little first.”

Without thinking, I removed my T-shirt and laid it over a nearby tree branch to dry. It was only when I removed my cropped pants, too, so that I was just in my underwear, that I caught David staring at me, his eyes wide.

I felt my body heat just from the way he was looking at me, and moisture that hadnothingto do with my dip in the brook pooled between my legs.

David couldn’t meet my gaze, and he hurried to pack our lunch things away.

“There’s no rush. I’m going to sunbathe here until my clothes dry.”

In reality, I wasn’t any more naked than I’d be in the pool or hot tub, but somehow, I felt completely bare as I laid down on the picnic blanket in my bra and panties.

David joined me, but unlike when we’d shared lunch, he kept a polite distance from me.

I gazed up at him and raised an eyebrow. “You’re practically sitting on the bare ground. You can move in a bit closer; you know. I won’t bite.”

“It’s not your reaction I’m afraid of, it’s mine,” David confessed.

I swallowed around a lump in my throat, feeling my body heat growing. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t pretend you don’t feel this.” David gestured between the two of us. “I’ve been trying to ignore it, so I don’t make what’s already a difficult time even more complicated for you.”

“What if Ilikecomplicated things?” I gazed at him steadily through my lashes.

“We can’t,” David insisted firmly.

“Why? Because of my dad? Because of the age difference?” I challenged, testing to see if David had the same reservations that I did. “Well, my dad isn’t here. And as for the age gap, we’re both legal, consenting adults. It’s not like I’m some innocent schoolgirl you’d be taking advantage of.”

“Don’t you think I’ve had all these thoughts myself. I know we wouldn’t be breaking any laws, but I still don’t think we should. I don’t want to hurt you, Alyssa. I’ve come to care about you too much.”

I hadn’t been expectingthat, and knowing David genuinely cared for me made me feel like I was floating on air.

“I care about you too. I’ve come to think of you as a friend, but maybe we could be something more,” I suggested softly.

David inched closer. “And then what?”

I let out a small, light laugh. “I’m not asking for forever David. I don’t want to suddenly get married or something, but Iwantto see where this goes. While we’re here, hiding out from the Bloodline, let’s use this opportunity to seewhatexactly this thing is between us. After that, who knows?”

David stared at me steadily, his eyes locked with mine, as he thought over everything I’d said. And then, finally, he made the decision.

He closed the distance between us, cupping my face in his hands, and crushed his lips to mine.

My body felt aflame as his tongue slipped into my mouth and swirled with my own. His hands moved down from my cheeks, gently caressing my neck, before moving to my shoulders.

“I want you,” he breathed huskily, pushing down the still wet straps of my bra.

“I want you too,” I replied, tugging at his T-shirt.

With deft hands, David and I quickly removed each other’s clothing, until we were both lying on the picnic blanket, completely naked.

David trailed his fingertips across my breasts as he said, “The first time we were together, it was all in the heat of the moment. This time I want to take it slowly. I want to explore your body properly.”

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